Department for Transport

A1: Nottinghamshire

Lord Jopling: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the cost of the current road works incorporating a new bridge on the A1 road close to Gamston Airfield near Retford; what was the original time estimated to complete the works; how long the work has already taken; and what penalties the contractors have incurred, if any.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The current estimated cost of the A1 roadworks close to Gamston Airfield is forecast to be £13.6m, which is £6.2m higher than the original £7.4m target cost. The project is also expected to finish around October 2015, a slip of three months. This reflects significant problems that were encountered during the course of the works. The contract was constructed on a ‘pain or gain’ basis, so the contractor will have to absorb a significant share of the cost increase. This, and any other penalties, will be calculated on completion of the works, when all costs are known.

Department for Communities and Local Government

Social Rented Housing

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many social housing units there are in (1) England and (2) the Borough of Pendle; in each case, how many of these units were occupied by tenants who were subject to loss of spare room subsidy when that measure was introduced; and of these affected tenants, how many (1) have since relocated to other accommodation, and (2) still live in the same accommodation.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: 4.011 million dwellings are used for social and affordable housing in England: 1.669 million rented from local authorities and 2.342 million rented from a housing association (Private Registered Provider).   4,630 dwellings in Pendle are used for social and affordable housing: 4,520 from Housing Associations and 110 from Local Authorities.   Across the social rented sector 434,500 housing benefit claimants in England had a spare room subsidy reduction when the measure was introduced – 533 of these were in Pendle. In February 2015 the number of claimants with a spare room subsidy reduction had fallen to 360,000 in England and 399 in Pendle.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

Clothing: Fire Hazards

Lord Trefgarne: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to regulate the sale of flammable fancy dress clothing.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: Fancy dress clothing for Children is already specifically regulated for flammability under the Toys Safety Directive, as a part of standard BSEN71-2. Department for Business officials will meet with a range of interested parties to discuss their concerns. We will also work with Trading Standards to investigate compliance with current fancy dress safety regulation.

Mature Students: Loans

Baroness Wolf of Dulwich: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the total amount of funding paid out under the 24+ Advanced Learning Loans programme in (1) 2013–14, and (2) the first six months of 2014–15.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: The most recent Student Loans Company report published on 25th March 2015 regarding payments made to Further Education providers on behalf of loans-funded learners shows that during the 2013/14 academic year £115.8m was paid out, and in the first six months of the 2014/15 academic year £65m has been paid.   The full report is available through the following link : http://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistics/financial-support-awarded/england-further-education.aspx   



Advanced Learning Loans
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Stem Cells

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Drayson on 19 May 2009 (WA 290), Baroness Wilcox on 3 October 2011 (WA 114–5), Baroness Garden of Frognal on 5 November 2012 (WA 168) and Lord Marland on 4 December 2012 (WA 131), whether the journal article "detailing further findings on the therapeutic potential and efficiency" of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) still remains unpublished following the end of Professor Mary Herbert’s research study; if so, what are the reasons for the apparent lack of progress; if not, when they advised that the article had been published; how the derivation of embryonic stem cells (ESC) following nuclear transfer as described in the article has improved on the efficiency of ESC derivation from clones as previously described by others in 2013 in the journal Cell (Volume 153, Issue 6, pages 1228–38) and the journal Cell Stem Cell (Volume 14, Issue 6, pages 777–80); and what were the novel "technological advances" described by Professor Herbert "to improve the efficiency of SCNT in human oocytes" and thus "develop a reproducible method of generating human embryonic stem cells".

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: The journal article referred to in Lord Marland’s response of 4th December 2012 has been published in the Nature journal Scientific Reports. The relevant paper (Therapeutic potential of somatic cell nuclear transfer for degenerative disease caused by mitochondrial DNA mutations, Greggains Gareth D (2014), Scientific Reports 4, Article number: 3844 doi:10.1038/srep03844) can be viewed at: http://www.nature.com/srep/2014/140124/srep03844/full/srep03844.html

Stem Cells

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Drayson on 19 May 2009 (WA 290), to what extent the stated aim to "develop a reproducible method of generating human embryonic stem cells following the transfer of the nucleus of an adult somatic cell into an oocyte" was achieved following the end of Professor Mary Herbert’s research study; and when a sample of the stem cell lines derived following nuclear transfer was deposited in the United Kingdom Stem Cell Bank.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: The findings of the Medical Research Council (MRC) funded grant to the University of Newcastle, Improving the Efficiency of Human Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT), are described in the research publications listed on the RCUK Gateway to Research. It can be found at http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk/project/AB211BD5-0A06-4819-ABD3-A29097543302   The work was also presented at a workshop on SCNT convened in San Francisco by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine and the MRC in June 2010. The workshop report was published on the MRC website and discussions are described in the paper Finding the niche for human somatic cell nuclear transfer: Grieshammer et al 2011, Nat. Biotech: 29.   The project included an undertaking that any embryonic stem cell lines that were derived during the project would be deposited in the UK Stem Cell Bank in accordance with the investigators HFEA license. However, derivation of ESC lines was not a primary aim of the project. No lines were derived and therefore none have been deposited.

Department for Education

Sue Berelowitz

Lord Blencathra: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the Office of the Children's Commissioner about the case for cancelling the contract with Sue Berelowitz to lead an inquiry into child abuse in the family.

Lord Blencathra: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the value for money obtained by paying the former Deputy Commissioner for Children a redundancy payment of £134,000 and then employing her for nine days per month at £960 per day.

Lord Nash: The Office of the Children's Commissioner (OCC) is independent of the Department for Education. The department advised the OCC that the estimated value and duration of the consultancy contract meant that it was subject to Cabinet Office efficiency controls. The OCC did not seek Cabinet Office approval, and the contract was therefore cancelled.   The redundancy payment for the Deputy Children’s Commissioner was subject to a value for money assessment and appropriate clearance, including by HM Treasury. The consultancy contract did not receive the correct clearance and the OCC subsequently cancelled the contract.

Education: Standards

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to reduce inequality between those who are educated privately and those who are state-educated.

Lord Nash: We are determined to ensure that every child, regardless of background is given an education which allows them to realise their potential. That is why our reforms place high expectations at the heart of our school system, with a rigorous new curriculum, world class exams and a new accountability system which rewards those schools that encourage every child to achieve their best. In addition, with the new Education and Adoption Bill, we will speed up the process for tackling failing schools and extend our powers into coasting schools. With these measures, we want all schools to be good or outstanding, certainly as good as the best in the independent sector.

Community Relations: Waltham Forest

Lord Ahmed: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the appropriateness of the Waltham Forest Council pilot scheme asking children under the age of nine questions about whether they would hurt another student who was mocking their religion.

Lord Ahmed: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of Waltham Forest Council's programme Building Resilience through Integrationand Trust, and in particular the use of questionnaires on issues such as trust toward the police, and inter-faith marriages, which were reportedly aimed at children at schools with large Muslim intakes.

Lord Nash: The Building Resilience Through Integration and Trust Project has been developed and implemented locally by the London Borough of Waltham Forest. Her Majesty’s Government has not been involved in the design or the delivery of the project. Local authorities and schools are free to develop and implement their own education-related projects. The department has no overview of local projects involving schools, though we do expect all schools to actively promote fundamental British values, which include mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. We would expect that any discussion with pupils involving complex issues should be age appropriate and handled with sensitivity.  Waltham Forest council’s website provides general information on the project: https://thehub.walthamforest.gov.uk/services-and-support/pupil-support/brit-project

Ministry of Justice

Criminal Proceedings: Legal Representation

Lord Beecham: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their current estimate of the proportion of defendants in criminal cases appearing without legal representation; whether that proportion has increased since 2013–14; and if so, by how much.

Lord Faulks: Data are not held centrally to determine how many criminal cases in the Magistrates’ Court involved a party for whom there was no legal representation. A methodology is being developed to identify defendants who are not represented by a solicitor or an advocate in the Crown Court. We will look to publish the data in due course.

Judiciary

Lord Beecham: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many lay magistrates there were, and how many criminal cases lay magistrates presided over, in England and Wales in 2009; what are their current estimates of how many criminal cases lay magistrates will preside over in 2015, and how many lay magistrates and district judges are required to meet this volume of cases; and what are their plans for recruiting lay magistrates and district judges over the next three years.

Lord Faulks: As of 1st April 2009 there were 28,619 serving magistrates in England and Wales. The number of court cases dealt with in 2009 are recorded for the year from April 2009 to March 2010, during which time the magistrates’ courts dealt with 1,857,461 criminal cases. This figure includes the number of cases presided over by both magistrates and district judges (magistrates’ courts). It is not possible to split case volumes between magistrates and district judges because a district judge might deal with certain aspects of a case, whilst magistrates might hear other aspects. Workload forecasts are not prepared on a calendar year basis, and are not broken down between magistrates and district judges (magistrates’ courts). The MoJ is currently planning that the magistrates and district judges (magistrates’ courts) sitting in the magistrates’ courts will preside over around 1,560,000 criminal cases in 2015/16. The need to recruit magistrates and district judges (magistrates' courts) is reviewed annually as a whole. One of the key aims is to ensure optimal use of both magistrates and district judges, each being essential to the administration of justice.

Human Rights Act 1998

Lord Wigley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the Government of Wales concerning the implications for the National Assembly for Wales of any changes to the Human Rights Act 1998.

Lord Faulks: The Government was elected with a mandate to reform and modernise the UK human rights framework.The Government has committed to consult fully on its proposals.We will consider the impact of a Bill of Rights on the devolution settlements as we develop our proposals and will fully engage with the devolved administrations.

Ministry of Defence

Veterans

Lord Laird: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, as a percentage of the total population in each area, how many former United Kingdom soldiers live in (1) England, (2) Scotland, (3) Wales, and (4) Northern Ireland.

Earl Howe: The Ministry of Defence does not collect or hold information on all veterans, the majority of whom are the World War II and National Service generations. The latest estimate, taken from The Royal British Legion UK Household Survey of the Ex-Service Community 2014 published on 17 November 2014, is that there are some 2.83 million UK veterans.The survey does not provide estimates of the number of veterans in England and the Devolved Administrations - there are estimates of numbers of the Armed Forces Community, but these include spouses, dependants and children.

Armed Forces Covenant

Lord Laird: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, since it began, how much armed forces covenant funding has been allocated to projects in (1) England, (2) Scotland, (3) Wales, and (4) Northern Ireland.

Earl Howe: I refer the noble Lord to the answer given by my hon. Friend, the Minister for Defence Personnel and Veterans (Mark Lancaster), in the House of Commons on 2 June 2015 to Question number 428 from the hon. Member for St. Helens North (Conor McGinn). 



Veterans Accomodation Fund
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LIBOR FUND (Excel Spreadsheet)
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Department for Work and Pensions

Employment

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they define "full employment", as used in the Gracious Speech.

Lord Freud: The Prime Minister set out his bold aim of achieving full employment in the Conservative Manifesto. We are preparing the Full Employment and Welfare Benefits Bill for Introduction. That Bill creates a duty to report on progress towards achieving full employment and the Government will set out the definition when the first report on progress is published.

Welfare State

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they plan to publish details of the proposal in the Conservative party's manifesto to reduce the welfare budget by £12 billion by the 2017–18 financial year, and in particular their assessment of how it will affect pensions.

Lord Freud: The Government’s commitment to save £12bn from welfare spending was set out in its election manifesto. Further details will be given in due course.

Home Office

Borders: Personal Records

Lord Berkeley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, for each port, airport and Channel Tunnel service, and for each mode of transport where passengers leave the United Kingdom, what proportion of passengers have their travel documents checked, and when 100 per cent exit checks are expected to come into operation.

Lord Bates: The Government introduced exit checks on all scheduled international commercial air, sea, and rail routes from the United Kingdom on 8 April 2015.An exit check has two elements: the capture of an individual’s basic identity data, either from Advance Passenger Information they supply before their journey or by scanning their passport or other identity document at the point of departure; and verification on departure – a visual check that the travel document is not obviously forged, and matches the individual presenting it.Limited transitional arrangements with some carriers concluded on 3 June. Journeys within the Common Travel Area, and General Aviation/General Maritime traffic, are not within the scope of exit checks. Organised coach parties of school groups where students are aged 16 or under are also excluded.Given the immigration control and border security objectives of the policy, it would not be appropriate to comment on the detailed operation of exit checks at an individual port level.

Offences against Children

Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure cross-government policy coherence regarding child exploitation and neglect.

Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what the Minister for Preventing Abuse and Exploitation’s responsibilities include in relation to preventing child neglect.

Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how the Minister for Preventing Abuse and Exploitation and the Department for Education will work together to tackle child neglect.

Lord Bates: Tackling all forms of abuse and exploitation of children is a priority for this Government. We will continue the urgent work of overhauling how our police, social care and other agencies work together to protect vulnerable children, including from the kind of organised grooming and sexual exploitation that has come to light in Rotherham, Rochdale and other towns and cities across the UK.On 3 March, the previous Government published a report into the response to the failures in Rotherham, which were identified by Professor Alexis Jay and Louise Casey in their reviews. The report includes tough new measures to tackle child sexual exploitation and sets out a comprehensive, targeted set of actions, bringing together healthcare, social care, education, law enforcement, criminal justice agencies, and local and national government.The Home Office’s Minister for Preventing Abuse and Exploitation leads and coordinates work to tackle child sexual exploitation, as well as missing children and adults, child sexual abuse online, violence against women and girls, and modern slavery including child trafficking. The Department for Education is responsible for Child Protection issues including child neglect.The Home Office and the Department for Education work closely on these issues with other Government departments, to ensure cross-Government policy coherence for children in England. Ministers and officials meet regularly to oversee the important work on child sexual abuse and have established a cross- Government programme board to oversee the development and implementation of this work. Government Departments represented at this board include the Home Office, Department for Education, Department for Communities and Local Government, Department of Health, Ministry of Justice and the Attorney General’s Office.

Asylum Support (Amendment) Regulations 2015

Baroness Lister of Burtersett: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to re-lay the Asylum Support (Amendment) Regulations 2015, which have been revoked.

Lord Bates: The matter is under consideration.

Police: Horses

Lord Patten: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the role played by horses in the policing of England and Wales.

Lord Bates: Police horses make a valuable contribution in the prevention of crime and in maintaining public safety both locally and nationally. Mounted units have a long and proud tradition in law enforcement in the UK with operational decisions on their use and deployment the responsibility of Chief Constables.

Immigration

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the report by the British Election Study, Financial Literacy and Attitudes Towards Immigration, that found that few people understand immigrants' role in the economic recovery of the United Kingdom.

Lord Bates: The Government has made no such assessment.

Refugees: North Korea

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by the Minister of State for Immigration, James Brokenshire, on 26 March (HC228701), and in the light of the ongoing practice of the United Kingdom of deporting North Korean asylum seekers to South Korea, what assessment they have made of the statement by the government of South Korea in a letter to the Secretary of State in 2010, cited in the judgment of the Upper Tribunal in GP and others (South Korean Citizenship) North Korean CG [2014] UKUT 391(IAC) that North Korean refugees must "desire to live in the Republic of Korea" before they can be considered South Korean nationals or be offered protection and settlement support.

Lord Bates: The July 2010 letter written by the South Korean Embassy in London to the Home Office was fully considered by the Upper Tribunal in the case of GP and others.In paragraph 104 of its determination the Upper Tribunal noted firstly that the subsequent United Kingdom-South Korea Readmission Agreement entered into between the two countries on 10 December 2011 provides a mechanism for the issue of travel documents which is not dependent on the genuineness of the individual’s wish to live in South Korea; and secondly, the question of refugee status is an objective test which requires the person to demonstrate that they have cooperated by seeking to establish whether they can avail themselves of protection from another State of which they may be a citizen.

Airbus SAS

Lord Stoddart of Swindon: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether any of the alleged industrial espionage in relation to Airbus by the United States and German intelligence services took place in the United Kingdom.

Lord Bates: It is the long-standing policy of successive Governments not to comment on intelligence matters.